Generally, particle accelerators use electromagnetic fields to propel charged particles at high speeds in well-defined beams. Exemplary applications of particle accelerators include physics experiments, medical applications, energy production, and the like. Exemplary particle accelerators include cyclotrons, synchrotrons, and fixed field alternating gradient accelerators. An exemplary medical application includes proton therapy using a beam of protons to irradiate diseased tissue, such as in the treatment of cancer. Conventionally, most proton and carbon cancer therapy facilities use cyclotrons, with a few exceptions where synchrotrons are used. This is mostly due to cyclotrons' competitive price and ease of operation. Cyclotrons have several disadvantages for proton therapy and the like. First, protons are accelerated in cyclotrons in a continuous mode at maximum energy. To obtain a required energy for a patient, a treatment degrader material is used, and protons lose energy passing through this material. Disadvantageously, this induces radioactivity and has negative impact on beam emittance. Also, cyclotrons always have continuous losses especially at an extraction point. This makes cyclotrons difficult to operate and/or repair, as they need to “cool down” with respect to residual radioactivity (e.g., the cool down period can be up to 10 days). The residual radioactivity also requires building special shielding walls to allow safe operation thereby making installation difficult in medical treatment facilities, for example. Synchrotrons solve the aforementioned problems, but are larger in size, and do not operate continuously. If synchrotrons are fast cycling (i.e., maximum possible today ˜60 Hz), they can be competitive to cyclotrons.
Fixed field alternating gradient (FFAG) accelerators are circular particle accelerators that combine the cyclotron advantage of continuous, unpulsed operation, with the synchrotron advantage of relatively inexpensive small magnet ring, of narrow bore. There are two types of FFAG accelerators: scaling and non-scaling (NS). Relative to conventional particular accelerators, there is a need in the art for non-scaling FFAG accelerator systems and methods to address fast acceleration to reduce treatment time, cost considerations both in operation and capital, operational simplicity, and reduction in size.